New Testament

Shadows and light

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All through Bible school, I heard the term type and shadow in reference to comparing the Old Testament against the New. It’s all type and shadow. After you hear something over and over again, it can either become a great revelation or it can cease to carry meaning altogether. I claim the latter on this particular term. Until today, that is.

I’ve always known that the New Testament is a brighter reflection of the Old Testament. There are many parallels to be found between the two. But it wasn’t until reading Stephen’s last message to the high council that the light finally came on. He is telling the tale of Jewish history. (This is moderately amusing because, who would know Jewish history better than their high council?) Stephen starts with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Israel), and goes on to Moses.

And so God sent back the same man his people had previously rejected.

Acts 7:35a (NLT)

That sounds familiar.

Come to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God’s temple. He was rejected by the people, but he is precious to God who chose him.

1 Peter 2:4 (NLT)

Moses was a man rejected by his own people. Jesus was a man rejected by his own people.

He was the mediator between the people of Israel and the angel who gave him life-giving words on Mount Sinai to pass on to us.

Acts 7:38b (NLT)

Israel needed a mediator between themselves and God so that they could receive the inheritance God promised to them. Hey, I know someone else who needs a mediator to receive an inheritance.

The is why he [Jesus] is the one who mediates the new covenant between God and people, so that all who are invited can receive the eternal inheritance God has promised them.

Hebrews 9:15a (NLT)

Could it be that God had already proven it possible that a man rejected by his own people could still be their saviour? The Jews, knowing the account of Moses, should have been well-prepared to receive Jesus. Yet history repeated itself, the Old Testament becoming a shadow in the light of the New Covenant.

The great difference is this: where Moses was unable to reach the Promised Land, Jesus has already gone ahead of us. Our way is paved and ready to go. We have two choices—we can be like the ten scouts who saw only giants and impossibility or we can be like Caleb and Joshua, ready, willing, able, and full of confidence.

You can live in the shadow of the Old Covenant or bask in the light of the New.

Daily Bible reading: Job 4-6, Acts 7:20-43

Fire insurance

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Have you ever heard a Christian use the term fire insurance? If a churchy person says it, they’re not actually talking about getting a payout after a fire. They’re talking about people who accept salvation just so they don’t have to spend eternity in hell—they’ve said a prayer of salvation and they truly believe in Jesus, that he is the Son of God and that he died to save us all from our own sin, but that’s it. There’s no more to their faith than that. They’ve either made the choice to live that way or no one has taught them any different.

You’ve probably also heard the term discipleship. Discipleship is a more mature Christian leading a newer or less mature Christian in the ways of Christ. People who’ve lived and learned teaching others from the Word of God and from their own experience.

The large number of Christians just carrying fire insurance is largely due to a lack of discipleship. No one has ever taught these new believers that there is more to faith than just a single prayer. There are a great many benefits to a Christian walk and there are even some expectations.

Jesus last words to his disciples were to tell them to go out and make more disciples. We call it The Great Commission (Mark 16:15). This is our duty as Christians whether we’re in vocational ministry or not. We are all called to be disciples and we are all called to make disciples.

We have been given the same authority that Jesus had on earth and the Holy Spirit has been sent to help us along. Since the veil of the temple was torn and God’s Spirit dispersed over the whole earth, we are the new generation of priests.

And you have cause them to become God’s kingdom and his priests. And they will reign on the earth.

Revelation 5:10 (NLT)

But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.

1 Peter 2:9 (NLT)

Back in the day, King Hezekiah was restoring faithfulness to Judah and Jerusalem. He called out to the priests words we can still use as a reminder today:

My dear Levites, do not neglect your duties any longer! The Lord has chosen you to stand in his presence, to minister to him, and to lead the people in worship and make offerings to him.

2 Chronicles 29:11 (NLT)

Sounds a lot like what we’ve been reading in the New Testament, doesn’t it?

Fire insurance is great, but it’s only a very small part of what Christianity is. We’ve been called to so much more. In the Old Testament, the priests reaped the benefits of acting upon their duties. We can do the same. What can be more rewarding than being close to God ourselves and helping others to achieve the same thing?

Let’s not neglect our duties any longer!

Daily Bible reading: 2 Chronicles 29-31, John 18:1-23

In the Beginning…

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In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was empty, a formless mass cloaked in darkness. And the Spirit of God was hovering over its surface. Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that it was good. Then he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day” and the darkness “night.” Together these made up one day.

Genesis 1:1-5 (NLT)

When reading this passage, I always made the assumption that the light that God created on Day One was the sun. It wasn’t. The sun didn’t come into play until Day Four. So if the light wasn’t the sun, what was it?

Jump over to the New Testament.

In the beginning the Word already existed. He was with God, and he was God. He was in the beginning with God. He created everything there is. Nothing exists that he didn’t make. Life itself was in him, and this life gives light to everyone. The light shines through the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.

John 1:1-5 (NLT)

For those of us raised in church, we knew the story of creation from a very early age. And, if you’re like me, you picture a big God in the sky with a glowing robe and a long, white beard. The Gandalf of the Heavens. But God wasn’t alone.

In the passage from Genesis quoted above, the entire Trinity is present. In the beginning God… And the Spirit of God was hovering… Let there be light (Jesus is the Light according to John 1:4)… The Hebrew word used for God is a plural word. Elohim. A plural of majesty indicating God’s greatness, not His number.

Jesus didn’t just appear at His human birth. The Holy Spirit didn’t arrive only at Pentecost. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit have been present since the very beginning. They are three in one and cannot be separated from each other. They are all and they are in all.

There is no better way to go into a new year than with the revelation that God is in everything and cannot be separated from anything. He is as much a part of you as He always has been. He will never leave you or forsake you. He cannot be extinguished.

Daily Bible reading: Genesis 1-2, Matthew 1

The Word

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In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

John 1:1-5 (ESV)

This is one of my favourite passages of scripture. It’s one I’ve read over and over again, but it was only several years ago that something clicked. It sounded awfully familiar.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

Genesis 1:1-3 (ESV)

We know that the Word John is speaking of is Jesus. Jesus was there in the beginning. We tend to only think of Jesus as appearing in the first few chapters of the New Testament, but he was there all along. Jesus was there at creation.  He was the Word. When God spoke, He spoke Jesus. When the Word went out, Jesus went out. When the light came, Jesus came.

Jesus is the light and darkness cannot overcome it.

There is no way that I can even begin to explain all that these verses hold. Read them for yourself. Then read them again. See for yourself the magnitude of the revelation John states in the first five verses of his book.

Daily Bible reading: 1 Kings 14-15; John 1:1-28

Clothed

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We often only associate the Holy Spirit with the Book of Acts.

And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Acts 2:2

But what about all those people that came before the first church? Was the Holy Spirit just not there?

The Spirit of the Lord was upon him…

Judges 3:10a

But the Spirit of the Lord clothed Gideon…

Judges 6:34a

There are many more verses that come before Acts 2:2 that talk about the Spirit coming upon people. Why then, do we assume that the Holy Spirit is only a New Testament “thing”?  Not only did the Spirit appear in Acts, but the Spirit rested on and clothed people long before the first church was established.

If the Spirit was present through the Old Testament and the New Testament why do churches stifle a move of the Spirit? We’ll preach about Gideon, but spur the presence of the Spirit.

I don’t know about you, but if the Holy Spirit clothing a single man can help an army of 300 men defeat an entire nation, I’ll take some of that!

Daily Bible reading: Judges 6-7; Luke 8:1-21